New Bob Dylan Album: Christmas Music?

ABOVE: Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead perform the title track from Dylan’s gospel-inspired album, Slow Train Coming.

Always a mysterious figure, Bob Dylan is adding a new twist to his music career as news surfaces of his upcoming album of Christmas songs.

News of his decision to record Christmas songs may come as a surprise to some given the fact that Dylan (Robert Zimmerman) was born and raised Jewish. Although he passed through a born-again Christian interlude in the late-’70s/early-’80s that produced the gospel-influenced albums Slow Train Coming and Saved, Dylan has seemingly returned to his Jewish roots in recent years (although, as with most of his personal life, Dylan remains quiet on the subject).

Billboard.com reports that Dylan has already recorded a handful of songs for the album, including the standards “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

Of course, news of Dylan’s exploration of Christmas music may not be so surprising after all: Irving Berlin, author of the holiday standard “White Christmas,” was also Jewish.

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